Inside College Hockey

Yale hockey ain't what it used to be. Though home games arestill held in a splendid old whale-shaped building near theheart of campus and the audience still includes gray-haired menin tweed jackets who rise to their feet to celebrate Bulldogsgoals, now these old-school types must jostle for standing roomwhen the 3,486-seat Ingalls Rink opens an hour before face-off.Now there are argyle-sweater-clad students--Y's painted on theirfaces, hair dyed Yale blue--who erupt when the Elis so much asclear the puck on a penalty kill. Oh, and now the Bulldogs arewinning. "Amazing," says senior Ray Giroux, Yale's topdefenseman. "We knew we were good, but we never expected this.The buzz around campus is unbelievable."

At 20-5 (15-3 in the East Coast Athletic Conference) with fourgames left, these Bulldogs are having the best season in Yale's103-year hockey history. They're 12-0 at home, where they'vesold out an unprecedented six games, and with a four-point leadin the 12-team ECAC, the Bulldogs could win their conference forthe first time. An ECAC preseason coaches poll predicted thatYale, which was 10-19-3 last season, would finish 10th in theconference. Through Sunday, Yale was ranked fifth in the nation.

All of this has happened in part because Tom Beckett took overas athletic director in July 1994 and set about improving thetesty relationship between Yale's athletics and admissionsdepartments. By opening up the lines of communication andinsisting that the two branches make their needs clear, Beckettensured that, as university president Richard C. Levin says,"coaches didn't waste time recruiting guys who had no chance ofgetting in here."

By honing in on players they know will make the grade withadmissions, the Bulldogs have been more successful inidentifying--and recruiting--the players they want. This hasenabled Yale to assemble a deep cast that includes Giroux, alikely All-America; sharpshooting sophomore center JeffHamilton, who has a team-leading 21 goals; and outstandingjunior goaltender Alex Westlund, whose .920 save percentage isfifth in the nation. Coach Tim Taylor has used 30 players thisyear and says, "our fourth line plays as many strong shifts asany of our other lines."

In the often jubilant Bulldogs' dressing room, there is a signthat reminds players to THINK LAKE PLACID, the annual site ofthe ECAC title game. Since 1993, when the message was put on thewall, Yale has not even advanced past the conferencequarterfinals. Now, however, Giroux says, "Lake Placid would notbe enough."

Levin, for one, has cleared his schedule for the weekend ofApril 2-4, when the NCAA Final Four will be held in Boston. "Iwant to be there in case we go all the way," he says. "You neverknow. It's been that kind of year."

Michigan State GoalieHE CAN PASS THE PUCK TOO

Chad Alban's stats are impressive--as of Sunday he led thenation with a 1.53 goals-against average and a .926 savepercentage--but they don't explain why Alban, a Michigan Statesenior, should be the first goalie since Minnesota's RobbStauber in 1988 to win the Hobey Baker Award as the top collegeplayer. Not counting saves, the peripatetic Alban handles thepuck some 30 times a game for the Spartans (26-4-5), who wereranked No. 2 in the nation. He doesn't just stop the disk behindthe net on dump-ins--he snaps bang-on passes to defensemen orwingers on the breakout. "I try to take pressure off ourdefense," he says.

Michigan State coach Ron Mason, who has been around the collegegame for 32 years, calls Alban "the best stickhandling goalieI've seen," and says that the Spartans' system is structured totake advantage of Alban's skills. Opponents often makeadjustments as well, changing the way they dump in the puck.

Forwards typically win the Hobey, and Boston University centerChris Drury and Michigan right wing Bill Muckalt (box, right)are leading candidates who are worthy of the trophy. But onlyAlban, who hails from Kalamazoo, Mich., plays 60 minutes a gameand makes an impact on all areas of the ice. He deserves theaward.

Maine ConcernANOTHER SORDID EPISODE

It isn't easy being Maine. The Black Bears' athletic program hasoperated under dark clouds since a two-year NCAA investigationbegan 13 months after the Maine hockey team won the 1993national title. The probe uncovered 13 recruiting and sixeligibility violations in a number of sports, but it especiallyrocked the hockey program: The Black Bears were forbidden toplay in the '96 and '97 NCAA playoffs, and lost six scholarshipsover two years; coach Shawn Walsh was suspended for a year; andfive regulars, including two All-Americas, bolted Maine.

Nevertheless, the Black Bears kept winning, going 72-25-11 from'94-95 to '96-97. With the playoff ban lifted, Walsh back incharge and junior captain Steve Kariya (brother of Mighty Ducksleading man Paul) on the verge of stardom, Maine seemed poisedthis season to regain some of its lost luster. Instead the BlackBears, who were 13-13-3 and in sixth place in Hockey Eastthrough last weekend, have endured a season of inconsistentplay, blowout losses and one horrible phone call.

In December three white players--goalie Bryan Masotta,defenseman Shawn Mansoff and center Matt Oliver--were chargedwith leaving a message replete with racial slurs on theanswering machine of a black Maine football player. Masottapleaded no contest to charges of criminal threatening and wasfined $1,000. Charges against Mansoff and Oliver were droppedand both deny involvement. All three players, however, facefederal civil rights charges.

The players were also suspended from Maine for one year, and theschool directed counselors to meet with the hockey and footballteams to discuss race relations. "That phone call was awful,"says athletic director Sue Tyler. "As a group we needed to workthings out, to heal."

The hockey program's healing isn't complete: In addition tohaving to come to grips with the implications of the racialincident, the Black Bears won't have a full complement ofscholarships available until next season. "We're still a greatprogram with a great tradition," says Kariya. "I like to thinkthe bad times have finally passed."

COLOR PHOTO: LOU CAPOZZOLA Holding on James Chyz is part of a Yale defense that has allowed only 2.2 goals a game.